The move by legislators came despite the fact that the Supreme National Security Council and the AEOI on the one hand, and state officials on the other had elaborated on the agreement while stressing that the parliament’s legislation on countering sanctions should be implemented.
Still, legislators turned a blind eye to all those explanations while expressing their protest and making threats against the administration.
Finally, under Article 234 of the Parliament’s Bylaw, lawmakers put to the vote a report by the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on the government’s violations regarding the implementation of the Law on Strategic Action to Lift Sanctions and Safeguard the Iranian People’s Interests.
The report was approved with 221 votes in favour, 6 against and 7 abstentions, and was finally referred to the Judiciary. The legislators’ petition demanding the enforcement of Article 234 was then read out on Parliament floor as follows:
Dear Parliament Speaker,
Hello and greetings
As you well know:
1. An agreement and joint statement by the IAEA and the AEOI is a blatant violation of the Law on Strategic Action to Lift Sanctions and Safeguard the Iranian People’s Interests. We demand the Judiciary temporarily revoke the agreement.
2. In the above-said law, Mr. President has been designated as the official charged with implementing it.
3. By virtue of Article 234 of the Parliament’s Bylaw, the president and all those violating and refusing to enforce the law should be introduced to the Judiciary urgently, so that the case will be reviewed in an urgent manner and beyond the conventional procedure.
The complaint is reportedly not addressed to Rouhani only, and applies to AEOI chief Ali-Akbar Salehi as well.
Hours after the complaint was filed, Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called the parliament’s criticism of the the agreement a “difference of opinion”, and urged the two sides to settle their differences.
He said today the government and the parliament should work to resolve their disagreement swiftly so that it doesn’t appear that there is dissonance in the country.
Following the Leader’s comments, the Rouhani administration expressed its empathy with the Parliament, and said the agreement is totally in line with the legislation.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf also formed a parliamentary committee to settle the differences with the government.
